The World Bank is providing humanitarian assistance through NGOs, church
groups and aid agencies
There is a process for re-engagement that includes arrears clearance and
agreement on a credible economic program
WASHINGTON, May 22, 2009 – The right conditions have not yet
been created for the World Bank to re-engage on a full-fledged economic
development program with Zimbabwe and humanitarian assistance currently provided
to help the poor in that country is being channeled through NGOs and aid
agencies.
World Bank Vice President for the Africa Region Obiageli Ezekwesili told
journalists Tuesday that although the Bank still does not do business with
Harare, it is working through NGOs and aid agencies to mitigate the impact of a
drastically declined economy on the poorest Zimbabweans.
Ms. Ezekwesili explained that the Bank has provided grant funding through the
United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) to ensure that small
holder farmers, who are already badly-hit by the global food crisis and
Zimbabwe’s crumbling agricultural and wider economy, can get seeds, fertilizers
and other inputs.
The World Bank is also providing resources to NGOs and civil society
organizations to combat HIV/AIDS and other pandemics and is preparing a grant to
work with the United Kingdoms Department for International Development (DfID) on
social safety nets to protect the poor.
Ms. Ezekwesili explained that safety net programs are desperately needed to
help mitigate the devastating consequences of Zimbabwe’s economic collapse on
the poor. The country’s economy shrunk 50 percent over the last eight years, and
by as much as 14 percent in the last year alone.
In addition, the Bank is funding a needs assessment in anticipation of future
work that would have to be done, once the right conditions are in place, in key
areas to help jump-start an economic revival – agriculture, mining, tourism,
energy, public finance management, etc.
The total amount of grant funding involved with these initiatives is smaller
than the $22 million mentioned by media outlets earlier this week, in reports
that also suggested the World Bank was re-engaging with Zimbabwe.
“Those reports are not an accurate interpretation of what we are presently
doing with Zimbabwe,” Ms. Ezekwesili said.
Re-engagement (a resumption of lending) with the unity government of
President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai must be preceded by
the government developing a credible economic development program, building
consensus and support nationally for the program, demonstrating sustained
progress in implementing reforms and clearing debt arrears to international
financial institutions, Ms. Ezekwesili said.
As of April 2009, Zimbabwe owed an estimated US$1.24 billion in debt arrears:
US$673 million to the World Bank, US$430 million to the African Development Bank
and US$140 million to the International Monetary Fund.
The World Bank Vice President, who met last April in Washington with
Zimbabwe’s finance minister, acknowledged that the short-term program of the
unity government (lasting until December 2009) points in the right directions.
She, however, stressed that Harare is still a long way from building the massive
confidence that is needed among development partners for funding to be provided
through government channels for long-term programs.
“These are still early days for Zimbabwe, but we at the World Bank are
interested in seeing the government move quickly in building the ambience and
conditions that would help development partners to re-engage,” Ms. Ezekwesili
said, explaining that it is critical for the Zimbabwean government to
demonstrate that it can manage the economy with prudence and transparency by
pursuing some key economic reforms.
Zimbabwe’s unity government has said it would take some $8.5 billion in
emergency aid to revive the country’s economy over the next two-to-three
years.
The World Bank and other donors, Ms. Ezekwesili explained, stand ready to
work with Zimbabwe on arrears clearance consistent with practice within
international financial institutions (IFIs). Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire and Togo are
among the African countries that benefited most recently from IFI support to
clear debt arrears.
Exactly 100 days have passed since the inauguration of the
Inclusive Government in Zimbabwe. The inauguration brought hope of change, but
human rights violations targeted at human rights and political activists
persist.
Amnesty International is urging the new government to rein in
state agents and government officials who continue to order human rights
violations and to restore the rule of law.
“The relentless silencing of
government critics that characterised the previous administration is a blight on
the record of the inclusive government” said Simeon Mawanza, Amnesty
International’s expert on Zimbabwe.
On 11 May 2009, two independent
journalists, Vincent Kahiya and Constantine Chimakure were arrested and charged
for publishing an article which was allegedly “wholly or materially false with
the intention to generate public hostility towards the police, the military and
the prison service”. They were released the following day on bail. Amnesty
International believes they were arrested and detained purely for exercising
their right to freedom of expression.
On 14 May 2009, prominent human
rights lawyer, Alec Muchadehama, who had been representing a number of human
rights and political activists, was arrested and detained by officers from the
Law and Order Section of the Zimbabwe Republic Police.
He was charged
with “defeating or obstructing the course of justice” and released on bail on 15
May. The investigating officer is reported to have told Alec Muchadehama, in the
presence of his lawyers, that the complaint against him had emanated from the
Office of the Attorney General.
Amnesty International has voiced
concerns about the apparent lack of political will to create an environment in
which human rights and media workers can do their work. The organisation has
urged the Southern Africa Development Community and the African Union to use
their role as guarantors of the inter-party agreement to end on going human
rights violations.
The continued harassment and intimidation of
perceived government critics has held back the international community from
providing much needed assistance to ensure the realisation of the economic and
social rights of Zimbabwean people.
The education of millions of
Zimbabwean children hangs in the balance as the education sector is in a state
of near collapse. Teachers returned to work in February, ending a strike that
had persisted since September 2008.
However, the state of the education
system remains plagued by serious problems:
school fees are unaffordable for the vast majority;
schools lack equipment and teaching materials;
the issue of teachers’ salaries remains unresolved.
Teachers in
rural areas have also reported harassment and intimidation by supporters of
ZANU-PF, who were responsible for politically motivated violence in the run up
to the June 2008 elections.
Though hospitals and clinics reopened in
February, serious shortages of equipment and drugs remained. According to the
UN, in May, the cholera outbreak had killed over 4,200 people and more than
97,000 people had contracted the disease. However, the fatality rate had fallen
to 1.8 per cent, a significant reduction from previous figures, which exceeded 4
per cent.
“For the inclusive government to live up to its international
obligations to ensure the realisation of the economic and social rights of
Zimbabwean people, it urgently needs to create the conditions in which donors
can feel confident about providing assistance,” said Simeon
Mawanza.
Amnesty International also expressed concern about reports of
victims of political violence who have taken up matters into their own hand in
an attempt to recover their property that was looted by ZANU-PF supporters
between the March and June 2008 elections. Police were quick to arrest the
people involved, but no action was taken against known perpetrators of the 2008
human rights abuses despite reports being made to the police by the
victims.
“Partisan policing needs to be brought to an end, said Simeon
Mawanza. "The needs of victims of the state sponsored human rights violations
have to be addressed as a matter of urgency. Those responsible for human rights
violations have to be held accountable and the victims accorded effective
remedies."
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
believes Western donors are beginning to warm to the country's new unity
government and could soon provide financial aid, he said in a newspaper
interview published Friday.
Tsvangirai formed a power-sharing
government with long-time rival President Robert Mugabe in February, but the
new administration has struggled to raise funding needed to fix an economy
ravaged by hyperinflation.
Western donors, seen as key in raising much of
the government's $8.3 billion (5.2 billion pounds) funding requirements, are
holding back aid and demanding broad political reforms.
But in an
interview with South Africa's Star newspaper, Tsvangirai noted a shift in
attitudes among foreign donors.
"There has been some positive engagement
with them. They have moved from total disregard of what has happened to
scepticism, and now they are saying there is progress, though not
sufficient," Tsvangirai said.
"So they all accept that there is change
taking place and that change must be consolidated. They will eventually open
(their purses)."
Tsvangirai warned that any delay in extending credit
lines and balance of payments support to Zimbabwe would delay economic
recovery.
The unity government this month announced it had surpassed its
$1 billion target for credit lines to private firms from African banks, but
said it was struggling to get budgetary support.
Finance Minister
Tendai Biti cut the country's 2009 budget by almost half in March,
acknowledging the difficulties the government was facing in getting
revenue.
Thursday, Tsvangirai announced that the government had
resolved most disputes in implementing the unity pact, but remained
deadlocked on the appointments of the attorney general and the central bank
governor.
These outstanding matters have been referred to the Southern
African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union, which brokered
the power-sharing deal.
Western donors are also reported to be
pushing for central bank reforms, including the dismissal of the governor,
whose tenure was marked by hyperinflation.
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe on Thursday finally agreed to
swear in Roy Bennett as deputy Agriculture minister.
Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai said Zanu-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change had
managed to agree on a number of thorny issues.
Bennett should have been
sworn in as deputy Agriculture minister back in February instead he was in
jail facing highly controversial terrorism charges.
Mugabe had
refused to swear him in since but now Tsvangirai said he had finally
relented.
However, there were still huge problem areas in the coalition
government.
The government called on the Southern African Development
Community to adjudicate Mugabe's appointment of the Central Bank governor
and the attorney general which he was still refusing to
reconsider. Eyewitness News
By Patience Rusere and Sandra Nyaira Washington 22 May
2009
Zimbabwean authorities on Friday arrested the lawyer
for a parliamentarian of the Movement for Democratic Change formation of
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, along with the mayor of the Midlands town
of Kwekwe, on obstruction of justice charges.
Police arrested lawyer
Tapera Sengwini and Kwekwe Mayor Shadreck Tobaiwa on charges that they
contacted the family of a teen allegedly raped in January by lawmaker
Blessing Chebundo in an effort to negotiate an out-of-court settlement in
the matter. Chebundo was charged Tuesday in the case and on Friday remained
in the hands of the Kwekwe police.
Sengwini told VOA earlier Friday that
he expected to be arrested. Sources in the west-central town said the lawyer
and the mayor were also being held at the Kwekwe station.
All three
men are members of the Tsvangirai MDC formation.
Lawyer Reginald
Chidavanyika, who took up Chebundo's defense following the arrest of his
colleague, told reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that
a magistrate refused to hear arguments for bail on Chebundo's behalf, citing
the alleged interference by Sengwini and Tobaiwa.
Elsewhere,
parliamentarian Mathias Mlambo of the Chipinge East constituency in eastern
Manicaland province, also of the Tsvangirai MDC, was freed on bail pending
appeal of his April conviction on charges he obstructed police officers from
performing their duty.
Mlambo posted bail of US$200, surrendered his
passport and was ordered to maintain his customary residence and to refrain
from contacting any state witnesses.
Police arrested Mlambo at the
wake of an MDC activist, saying he had prevented them from arresting another
person present who they were trying to take into custody.
One of his
lawyers, Langton Mhungu, told reporter Sandra Nyaira his team will now wait
for a date from the high court to argue against both his conviction and his
sentence.
The MDC
MP for Chipinge East, Mathias Mlambo, was released on bail of US$200 on
Friday by Chipinge magistrate Samuel Zuze. This was after defence lawyers,
led by Trust Maanda and Langton Mhungu, successfully applied for bail,
pending an appeal in the High Court. The MP, who was arrested on 11th May,
was sentenced to 10 months in jail for allegedly defeating and obstructing a
police officer during the discharge of his duties and inciting violence at a
funeral of an MDC supporter in Chipinge. MDC MP and spokesperson for
Manicaland province, Pishai Muchauraya said Mlambo denies these charges,
adding that it's 'mere political harassment by some authorities within ZANU
PF.
The release on bail of the Chipinge East MDC MP comes after the MDC
announced that it is calling on the regional bodies to come in and help
unlock the stalemate on the outstanding issues in the unity government.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said there is a deadlock on the
appointments of Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono and Attorney General
Johannes Tomana and he said he remains 'concerned about the continued
violations of the rule of law.' Journalists, lawyers and MDC legislators
continue to be arrested and illegal land invasions and violence on the farms
is continuing.
On Sunday Minister of Finance Tendai Biti also told
supporters at an MDC rally in Masvingo on Sunday: "We are unhappy with the
selective application of justice and Zanu PF is showing its insincerity to
the implementation of the agreement." He said this was shown by the recent
jailing of MP Mlambo.
Meanwhile judgment on the case of another MDC MP in
Chipinge is expected to be handed down on 27th May. Pishai Muchauraya said
Chipinge South MP, Meki Makuyana, is being accused of engaging in public
violence and abducting ZANU PF supporters - again charges that are
completely denied. Muchauraya said like the Mlambo case, it is once again
driven by political victimisation.
The trial of The Chronicle editor, Brezhnev Malaba and
reporter Nduduzo Tshuma who are facing defamation charges in contravention
to section 96 of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act was on 20 May
2009 postponed to 21 July 2009.
Bulawayo Magistrate John Masimba
referred the matter to 21 July 2009 after officer commanding Matebeleland
North, Senior Assistant Commissioner Edmore Veterai failed to turn up in
court. The two's lawyer, Job Sibanda of Sibanda and Associates who said he
was told that the Assistant Commissioner failed to attend the court
proceedings because he in Namibia attending a conference.
The two
are jointly charged with the Zimpapers Bulawayo branch General Manager,
Sithembile Ncube court over a story that was published in their paper in
February alleging that the police were involved in a major maize scandal at
the Grain Marketing Board (GMB).
Background
On 7April, 2009
Malaba and Tshuma appeared before Magistrate John Masimba arguing that the
State did not have enough evidence to prove that they had a case to answer,
and therefore there was no basis to put them on further remand. They further
argued that the published story was about corruption at the GMB and did not
in any way involve the police.
In his judgment, the Magistrate
remanded the two out of custody to 19 May 2009 for trial and stated that the
application was based on whether there was any reasonable suspicion that an
offence was committed.
Malaba and Tshuma become the first state
journalists to be charged under any of the repressive media laws of
Zimbabwe.
JOHANNESBURG, May 22 2009 - South Africa will next
month send fertilisers worth R60 million to Zimbabwe - part of the R300
million of aid promised to the unity government, the country's agriculture
minister revealed Thursday.
Ministers of Agriculture of
the Southern African Development Community (SADC) met in Johannesburg,
Thursday, to discuss the way forward amid the global economic downturn that
has strained their respective economies and now threatens the region's food
security and agriculture production.
In her opening speech,
SA's newly-appointed minister of agriculture water and forestry, Tina
Joemat-Petterson, said: "This region is not immune to the current global
financial crisis. This is evidenced by the current challenges that continue
to impede the implementation of our agree-upon programmes and limit our
access to financial resources.
"However, the high food prices
are not only a threat to millions of poor people, they are also an
opportunity for small-scale farmers to increase their production. But they
need our support and assistance.
"We have to confront this from
the perspective of making food available to the most vulnerable, and help
the small producers to raise their production thereby increase their
income."
Moreover, one of the main reasons of the SADC's food
crisis and decrease of agriculture production is due to the excessive
rainfall and flooding that marred northern Namibia, southern Angola,
northern Botswana, western Zambia and some parts of Malawi and Madagascar,
resulting not only in loss of crops and livestock but also to the loss of
lives.
While southern Madagascar, Tanzania and Lesotho received
below average rainfall, the excessive rainfall in some parts of SADC was
caused by climate change that has also exacerbated water shortage and water
quality problems within the region.
Joemat-Petterson
pointed out: "The impact and intensity of some of the floods and droughts,
and water quality due to climate change can be addressed through integrated
water resources management. In responding to this, resources have to be
committed in research in crops that are resistant to drought and those that
may have a short life cycle.
"It is therefore imperative to
introduce early warning systems that will allow us to mitigate risk at an
early stage."
Currently, the region is also threatened by the
outbreak of diseases such as foot-and-mouth, avian influenza, rift valley
fever, African swine fever and rabies and plant diseases that have impacted
negatively on agricultural trade and production and trade in animal and
plant products.
Joemat-Petterson also called on the World Bank
for a short response to help and assist the region with challenges such as
climate change and the millennium development goals targets in the longer
term.
The ministers, who were due to issue a joint communiqué
at the end of the meeting Thursday night, also reviewed progress and the
implementation of the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan and the
Dar-es-Salam Declaration Plan of Action on Agriculture and Food Security.
(BizCommunity)
HARARE, May 21
2009 - Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara promised the other two
principals that his MDC-M party will find Gibson Sibanda, the minister of
State responsible for national healing, a parliamentary seat.
Sibanda's stay as minister expired on 19 May 2009 as the Zimbabwean
constitution provides that a cabinet post can only be held by a member of
parliament and if the appointed minister is not an MP, a parliamentary seat
must be found within three months.
Sibanda, the Minister of
State in the Deputy Prime Ministers Office who doubles up as the MDC-M
Deputy President, risks forfeiting his ministerial post after his party
exhausted its allocations when it used up its non-constituency
seats.
The two senatorial seats were given to party secretary
Welshman Ncube and Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, the deputy secretary
general, to enable them to assume ministerial positions.
A
parliamentary seat was given to Deputy Prime Mutambara, leaving Sibanda,
appointed a Minister in Mutambara's Office, in a quandary.
But
Prime Minister Tsvangirai told journalists at a press conference in Harare
on Thursday that Mutambara had assured the other two principals that the
MDC-M would find Sibanda a seat.
"We have been assured by
Deputy Prime Minister Mutambara that they will find Minister Sibanda a seat
but I do not know where," said Tsvangirai.
Mutambara was not
available for comment.
There are fears that Mutambara, who has
suspended eight party officials flatly opposed to his leadership, could
sacrifice one of the legislators facing disciplinary action over allegations
of misconduct.
Of the eight officials suspended by Mutambara
and in line for disciplinary action, several are legislators and include
Abednico Bhebhe (Nkayi South), Zinti Mkandla (Gwanda), Maxwell Dube
(Tsholotsho North), Sijabuliso Mguni (Lupane North) and Norman
Mpofu.
MISA-Zimbabwe: Journalists not obliged to register
MISA-Zimbabwe
Communiqué
21 May 2009
Journalists not obliged to
register
Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirayi on 21 May 2009 said both
local and foreign journalists, as well media houses have no legal obligation
to apply for registration until the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) is
constituted.
Speaking at a press conference held in Harare on 21 May
2009, Prime Minister Tsvangirai said the 2008 amendments to the Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) did away with the
statutory Media Information Commission (MIC), which was responsible for the
accreditation and licensing of journalists and media houses. Section 38 of
AIPPA makes provisions for the ZMC, which has not been constituted to date.
Legally this means that there is no legal body that is responsible for the
accreditation and registration of journalists and media
houses.
Prime Minister Tsvangirayi said, however, that the
Parliament's Committee on Standing Rules and Orders is working on setting up
the new media commission in order to facilitate the opening up of airwaves.
According to the law, the Commission shall have a Chairperson and eight
other members appointed by the President from a list of not fewer than
twelve nominees submitted by the Committee on Standing Rules and
Orders
The pronouncement comes after Zimbabwe media editors and
publishers wrote a letter to the Minister for Media, Information and
Publicity, Webster Shamu calling for the lifting of the remaining
restrictions on journalists seeking to return home in line with the Global
Political Agreement. In the letter, the editors and the publishers also
appealed for a moratorium on the process of licensing of newspapers and
lifting of high taxes on imported newspapers. The letter was signed by
representatives of the Zimbabwe Independent and The Standard, Associated
Newspapers of Zimbabwe, The Worker, Community Newspapers Association in
Zimbabwe, The Zimbabwean, the Zimbabwe Times and
ZimOnline.
Background
In January 2009, government gazetted
steep application and registration fees that required foreign based media
houses to fork out more than US$30 000 in application and operation
fees.
The fees stated the local journalists working for foreign media
organisations will pay US$ 1 000 and US$3 000 as individual application and
accreditation fees respectively. Temporary accreditation for a foreign
journalists were fixed at a total cost of US$1 500, contrasting sharply with
the complimentary accreditation and administration fees for journalists from
within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) which is pegged at
US$150 and US$200 respectively.
At the time journalists working
for local organisations were to pay Z$1 million and Z$3 million in
application and accreditation fees while local freelance journalists pay
Z$1, 5 million as application fees. Late renewal of accreditation would be
penalised at the rate of Z$100 000 per day while that for registration is
pegged at Z$500 000.
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's farming sector is in "dire
straits" despite the new power-sharing government, with invasions of
white-run farms continuing unabated and major food shortages inevitable, a
leading farmer said on Friday.
Deon Theron, vice-president of the
Commercial Farmers Union, which represents the few white farmers left, also
poured scorn on official predictions of large jumps in output of key crops
such as maize and wheat in 2009.
He said the farm sector was being
talked up in an attempt to persuade foreign donors to loosen their purse
strings.
In many cases, forecasts were four times the reality, Theron
said, since commercial farmers were being physically prevented from planting
crops and banks were refusing to grant loans because they could not trust
land deeds as collateral.
"It's a joke. It's ridiculous," Theron told
Reuters in an interview in Johannesburg. "I find it incredible that those
kind of figures could be put out. They're not even close."
Zimbabwe,
once the breakbasket of southern Africa, has recorded a consistent decline
in its staple maize crop since 2000, when President Robert Mugabe's
government began seizing white-owned farms to resettle landless
blacks.
Farms that escaped repossession have also suffered shortages of
seed and fertiliser, making Zimbabwe reliant on imports and food aid since
2002. Aid groups have said up to 7 million people -- more than half the
population -- may need food aid this year.
However, state media said
this month the country would produce 1.2 million tonnes of maize this
season, more than double last year's crop.
Theron said the more likely
figure was 400,000 tonnes -- compared to a national requirement of 2.2
million.
"Agricultural production is in dire straits despite what the
government is saying," said Theron.
The wheat crop was more likely to
be 25,000 tonnes compared to 100,000 officially forecast and tobacco output
was going to be a quarter of the 1.6 million tonnes projected.
Mugabe
and political rival Morgan Tsvangirai joined a power-sharing administration
in February and immediately started trying to raise the billions of dollars
needed to rebuild an economy crippled by years of neglect and
mismanagement.
Even though Tsvangirai said in March a new wave of farm
invasions threatened $150 million of crops, Theron said Harare was glossing
over the problems in the hope of convincing sceptical Western donors to get
their cheque books out.
The farm invasions were, if anything, more
frequent than before the joint government came to power, he said, leafing
through a file of 60 incursions reported in April alone.
"It really
is close to hoodwinking the international community into releasing funds by
making them believe everything is fine on the agricultural front," said
Theron, who has had three farms repossessed since 2000.
"We're an
agriculture-based economy. If agriculture does not recover, Zimbabwe will
not recover," he said.
Ben Freeth ... keeps raiders at bay with razor wire.
Photo: Russell Skelton
"War veterans" run the white owners off but the political elite take
possession, writes Russell Skelton in Chegutu.
THE harvest was dead and it was no longer his. The field of bleached corn was
a great backdrop for a photo of ex-farmer Ben Freeth - forced off his land by
the campaign of terror by "war veterans", yet the crop had been neglected and
lost. It was a picture of futility.
As the shutter snapped, shouts erupted from the nearby mango orchard and
three figures came dashing towards us: "Come here! Come here! We're going to
shoot you!" We heard the dull thump of shotguns.
The war veterans - Robert Mugabe's footsoldiers in the 1970s war of
independence - moved with surprising speed, but they had coils of razor wire to
negotiate. Freeth, a tall man with a clipped moustache and military bearing,
calmly turned away: "I think we better go."
Foiled by the razor wire, the veterans' shouts receded. "Stop! We want to cut
off your heads!"
Anticipating a follow-up visit from a truckload of veterans, Freeth urged us
to leave for Harare. Foreign journalists are banned from Zimbabwe and face
automatic imprisonment in the capital's cholera-plagued and overcrowded
jails.
Led by a thug with the unlikely name of Landmine Shamuyarira, the brother of
a former information minister in Mugabe's old government, the veterans had waged
a long campaign of violence and intimidation against Freeth, his elderly
father-in-law, Mike Campbell, and their families.
Some of Freeth's 100 or so farm workers, who last month repelled Landmine's
militia, were arrested and savagely beaten by compliant police. In an earlier
assault, Freeth had his skull fractured. He maintains the police are taking
orders from Landmine and his brother.
In Chegutu district, south-west of Harare, violence against white farmers and
their workers has intensified in recent months as apparently desperate ZANU-PF
politicians scramble over the spoils of power as the "inclusive" government
gathers momentum. Eight of 15 farming families, the Campbells among them, have
been forced out.
Morgan Tsvangirai, the Prime Minister and leader of the Movement for
Democratic Change - who in a bizarre arrangement shares power with Mugabe and
his ZANU-PF - has bitterly opposed the invasions, saying they are wrecking the
nation's agricultural base. He ordered that they be stopped, but Mugabe and his
Attorney-General, the hardline Johannes Tomana, encourage them.
While the invasions persist, donor nations and the International Monetary
Fund refuse to release hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid to bail
out Zimbabwe's failed economy and its health and education systems. Britain,
France, the United States and the Southern African Development Commission have
condemned the invasions.
The seizures have turned Zimbabwe from breadbasket to dustbowl. Seventy-five
per cent of the population now depends on food aid, Few if any farms remain
productive once invaded. Zimbabwe, the world's largest exporter of white maize
in the 1990s, now imports it.
Figures obtained by the Herald reveal a massive decline in
agricultural production since the invasions began in the late 1990s. Maize,
wheat, tobacco, cotton and dairy production figures are 25 per cent of what they
were 10 years ago and the nation faces ongoing food shortages. Rural
unemployment also has leapt, as farms become unproductive retreats for the rich
and powerful.
Last year, after heavily armed invaders broke into Mike and Angela Campbell's
house on Mount Carmel Farm and abducted them in the middle of the night, the
family decided to abandon one the nation's most productive agribusinesses. They
were bashed and tortured for nine hours - to end the ordeal, Angela said she
signed over the property. "The High Court says we can go back, but there is no
law and order … police ignore the ruling," Mike said.
What is happening now at Mount Carmel Farm, Freeth says, is outright theft.
"One hundred and twenty tonnes of mangoes worth $US120,000 planted by us have
been harvested and sold. No compensation offered."
On Etheredge, a nearby property, police shot several workers and jailed the
white owners on contrived charges of refusing to leave the land they owned. The
orange grove was taken over just before harvest and the crop sold - not by war
veterans, but by the Mugabe confidante Edna Madzongwe, the president of the
Senate. She has ignored four court orders to leave and has made no comment on
the death of a man caught stealing fruit on Etheredge.
Local farmworkers say he was beaten for five hours.
Ownership of seized farms seems to go not to war veterans but to the ZANU-PF
elite that includes generals, a Supreme Court judge and the disgraced head of
the Reserve Bank, Gideon Gono. Mugabe and his second wife, Grace, are said to
own three farms.
As the unity government's silence on the countrywide wave of farm
invasions prevails, the attacks on a Karori Farm in the Headlands district
have intensified, with two of the farm's workers being assaulted this
week.
Farmer Charles Lock was earlier this year forced into hiding when
the renewed offensive against the country's remaining commercial farmers
started gathering momentum. More than 100 farmers have since been hauled
before the courts on trumped up charges of being on so-called State land
'illegally', while the physical land attacks have turned increasingly
violent. Last Friday a Banket farmer was beaten by the son of a ZANU PF
affiliated political official, set on stealing the farmer's land. Just days
later, the 80 year old mother of a Chinhoyi farmer was assaulted by police,
when the officials came to arrest her son for being on his land. She was
briefly detained and then released with serious injuries.
But despite
the violence, harassment and intimidation, Zimbabwe's commercial farming
community have been trying, mostly in vain, to carry on their farming
activities. Lock, whose Karori Farm is one of the most productive farms in
the area, has been preparing his land for planting, work that is now only
benefiting the man set on stealing the farm. Brigadier General Justin
Mujaji, who has led repeated invasions over several years on Karori Farm,
earlier this week shut down the whole farm. This was in an effort to plant
his own wheat seed in Lock's cultivated tobacco lands, using Lock's
manpower, equipment and fuel. Lock and his workers were then threatened
with violence for refusing to do the work.
Mujaji then 'borrowed'
tractors and sowed his seed on the farm, which had just been prepared for
Lock's tobacco planting. Later this week, the army soldiers that are working
as Mujaji's henchmen, demanded that Lock and his workers hand over the
farm's irrigation pipes to water the new seeds. They once again refused,
leading to Mujaji breaking open the farm gates and forcibly taking all the
pipes. When he could not find the irrigation sprinklers he attacked and
assaulted two of the farm's foremen, beating them over the head. The farm
has since been shut down again, with Mujaji still threatening violence if
Lock and his staff don't obey his orders.
Lock explained that he has
reported the matter on a daily and hourly basis to the police. But this week
the police refused to even visit the besieged farm, claiming there is no
fuel or transport to get there, and that they do not have the authority to
deal with Mujaji. At the same time, Lock has personally spoken to Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, both the Home Affairs Ministers and even the
Lands Minister, who said the matter needs to be dealt with by police because
the attacks are a criminal issue, and not related to
land-reform.
Lock further explained that the invasion on his farm is
not a land-reform issue, as he has been acquitted of all previous charges of
being on the land unlawfully. He was allocated the farm through the land
reform programme, after he voluntarily gave up 90% of his original land,
including his own farm, to the land programme.
Lock said there is a
clear reluctance by higher powers to deal with the issue, because of the
involvement of the army in the attacks on his land. "There is not much they
can do when the organs of the State are used to brutalise innocent people
and plunder productive farms," Lock said. He expressed anger at the police
who, despite a contempt order, warrant of arrest and two High Court Orders
against Mujaji, have refused to take action.
Lock also paid tribute
to his farm staff who have stood by him through repeated and often violent
attacks. "We have all taken a stand against this, including my workers whom
I greatly admire as they have been through this with me many times," Lock
said.
Zimbabwe's farm workers have in most cases borne the brunt of the
attacks, facing severe beatings and arrest for standing against the
invasions. Hundreds of farm staff have lost their jobs because of the
renewed invasions, adding to the country's already desperate level of
unemployment of more than 90%.
MASVINGO - Tourism and hospitality minister Walter Mzembi, who
has called for the payment of decent salaries in the sector, has failed to
pay workers on his farm, allegedly for more than three months.
Some
of the workers say those attempting to take legal action have been
victimised by the minister.
The Masvingo South legislator who has
promised to turn around the fortunes of the country's battered tourism image
has failed to pay workers at his BW Farm and Supermarket in
Masvingo.
BW supermarket located in the city's central business district
has since closed its doors to the public following the pay
dispute
Workers told The Zimbabwe Times that they had not received their
salaries since January and any efforts to take legal action were being
thwarted through victimisation by the cabinet minister.
"We have been
relying on handouts from well-wishers since January this year and our
employer threatens us with unspecified action once we talk of taking the
matter to the Ministry of Labour for arbitration ", said one of the workers
who requested anonymity for fear of victimisation.
The workers say they
have tried to boycott work on several occasions but the minister has
allegedly instructed his drivers to forcibly collect them from their homes
and drive them to work.
"It is now forced labour as we do not know when
we are going to get paid," he said. "We do not know where to report because
the minister says he is in government and therefore any action we try to
take it will not succeed".
Female employees also claimed that they were
sexually harassed by the cabinet minister.
"We have been quiet for a
long time when our employer was sexually harassing us," said one of the
employees.
"Now is the time for the world to know that nearly all female
employees were being sexually harassed."
Mzembi yesterday dismissed
the workers' allegations out of hand, saying he only owed them a month's
salary.
"Those are just lies," said Mzembi. "I know I have failed to pay
them for only a month. As you know, all businesses are struggling. I am
going to pay them."
On the allegations of sexual harassment Mzembi
said: "If that is true why do they not report to the police?"
Mzembi
who is among the youngest ministers in cabinet was appointed in February. He
has promised to turn around the fortunes of the tourism sector.
He has
said that all stakeholders in the tourism sector have to be consulted and
the country has to respect the rule of law in order for the tourism industry
to grow.
He has also called for payment of decent salaries in the
sector.
Mzembi has recently engaged in a war of words with controversial
war veterans' leader, Joseph Chinotimba. Mzembi castigated Chinotimba for
leading the new wave of farm invasions and damaging Zimbabwe's image abroad
at a time when efforts were being made to revive the country's image and its
tourism.
Mzembi told a recent National Economic Forum meeting that
Chinotimba and other war veterans, who are currently invading farms, were
discouraging potential investors as the inclusive government battled to
secure crucial financial lifelines.
Chinotimba, who is more
accustomed to a pat on the back from the Zanu-PF leadership, was far from
amused.
In a hard-hitting and, for him, uncharacteristically eloquent
statement made available to RadioVOP on Tuesday, Chinotimba said Mzembi had
no right to castigate him, as the minister was a newcomer in
Zanu-PF.
"The Honourable Minister should be reminded that war veterans,
of late, have not been getting their pensions and school feels for their
children and these issues have not been addressed despite several efforts on
our part," said Chinotimba.
"As learned as he is, I would have
expected him to be professional by engaging war veterans and trying to give
constructive ideas and solutions to their plight than to try and please his
audience at the conference by attacking me."
The war veteran leader
reminded Mzembi that the war veterans had played a leading role in
repossessing land from the whites.
"I am in no doubt that the honourable
Minister Mzembi is one of those who immensely benefited. For Mzembi to try
and be a good boy today at the expense of war veterans' welfare is very
unfortunate and unexpected from a man of his competence." Chinotimba
said.
"Being a son-in-law to a foreign land does not make the Honorable
Minister peculiar."
MASVINGO, May 22 2009 - Prisoners who
are hired by farmers are being given only a bar of soap and a bottle of
Vaseline in exchange for their labour, RadioVOP has
established.
A senior Prison officer at Harare Central Prison told
RadioVOP that prisoners who are hired by ZANU Pf top officials are paid in
the form of a bar of soap and a single bottle of Vaseline for the labour
rendered per week.
Twenty prisoners are usually released
from Harare Central Prison daily to work for a single
farmer.
"Slavery is still happening at our prisons, prisoners
are being abused by these corrupt ZANU PF officials. Imagine a single bar of
soap per week, which is not even given directly to them but to the
organization. Some of the farmers who hire these inmates do not even give
them food, and yet they demand their services, "said the senior Prison guard
who declined to be named.
He said some of the farmers now
demand the same prisoners, with Retired Army General Solomon Mujuru
demanding the same ten inmates.
"The retired army chief
recently bought 'his 'ten prisoners some blankets and donated some paint for
a single cell where his inmates alone are now housed. These people are
enslaving prisoners," said the guard.
The Zimbabwe Prison
Service has been widely condemned by the public for failing to fully utilize
vast lands it controls despite having the human resources and farm
implements - donated by the Reserve bank governor Gideon Gono in recent
years.
Meanwhile Karoi prison officials are appealing for
donations after inmates' blankets were gutted by fire.
The
officials said all the blankets in cell number 14 were gutted last Friday
after the inmates left a lit string hanging on he wall. The cell houses 35
inmates, all of whom are about to complete serving their
sentences.
Prisoners who smoke during the night since they
are not allowed to carry matches into the cells use the lit string, commonly
known as a 'chadhuva'.
"The fire was not caused by an
electrical fault but by the recklessness of the inmates. We are appealing
for prisoners' blankets from inmates relatives and the public," one prison
official who spoke on condition of anonymity told Radio
VOP.
A Hurungwe woman who recently visited her convicted
husband confirmed the appeal.
"I was told by prison
officials to bring my husband some blankets. They indicated that inmates can
now get blankets from their relatives during winter" said the
woman.
Karoi prison officer-in charge Supt Christine Munhivi
refused to comment on the issue when contacted for comment, although sources
insist that she made a formal appeal to prison commissioner Paradzai
Zimondi.
GIDEON Gono never tires of writing volumes. Some people think
that's about the best thing he can do in life. I think he has a team of very
good writers who have great capacity to put his imagination (and thoughts)
on paper.
Whatever the case, these people could command much better
salaries in Hollywood than whatever Our Governor is paying them. The
Governor is indeed a generous man. He pays for everything, from the news on
television about him defending a diary farmer from farm invaders and the
footage about his (in)famous walk-about in Harare, to the interview
supplements running in The Herald.
Now, I don't have any evidence
that some journalists are driving cars that were supplied by the Governor as
a thank you, but I know these guys (and girls) had no financial capacity to
dive into such luxury and at least some of them experienced life-serving
turn-around in their financial situations after famous interviews.
In
the official media, interviewing Our Governor is still considered a
lucrative undertaking. And it is the preserve of a very few. A call from Our
Governor to Henry Muradzikwa, then chief executive of ZBC, transformed his
life. First, The Governor offered to pay "quite a lot" for any news about
him on television and, secondly he would make cash, note please, cash
available for them to juice up the equipment. And this soon after the
Iranian government, bless the Ayatollah's soul, had just kitted ZTV with,
admittedly, very modern equipment for their studios.
(Dr) Muradzikwa
would have been foolish to say no, especially when the package came with the
condition that he personally travel to the Far East to source the equipment!
And the little matter of going through Harare International Airport security
allegedly with US$300 000 would be taken care of by RBZ security who would
personally ensure a trouble-free exit.
In cynical defiance of President
Robert Mugabe's Look East Policy, Gono soon dispatched Supa Mandiwanzira of
Mighty Movies west. Clutching a briefcase full of crisp US dollar notes
Mandiwanzira descended on New York, there to purchase television equipment,
ostensibly to cover Zanu-PF's election campaign. Gono is a shareholder at
Mighty Movies.
They still talk fondly in Manhattan about the benevolence
of the visitor's entertainment style.
I'm relating these stories just
to make readers understand the way Gono operated, the powers he wielded and
which today must be weighing on his decision whether to do the right thing
and simply resign for the sake of our country, or hang on. Too many things
that he did, particularly during his first tenure, certainly would qualify
as unethical. But, grant him that, his principals knew it. They accepted the
story about all this being done in the interest of the country and that
little Zimbabwe was under siege, that the entire western world was out to
reverse our revolutionary gains.
Since the Zanu-PF top brass were among
the beneficiaries of Gono's legendary benevolence, who were they to ask
silly questions? Gono played on their fears, placed himself in the position
of benefactor and saviour and, in the process, acquired more power than any
other person in Zimbabwe, Mugabe included, some argue.
In doing so,
he ensured one thing. He allowed as many influential people as possible to
pick the apples from the tree he so vigorously shook. He knew the greedy
ones and he fed their voracious appetite. He knew the genuinely needy ones,
who needed fertiliser and ploughs and appreciated the few US$ for a
business-serving import and he gave them too, less generously though.
He
was there for the little independent newspapers that sang his praise,
pumping money into their advertisements just to keep them happy but all the
time reserving the lion's share of his media largesse for main stream
media.
The security chiefs suddenly found themselves reporting, not to
their commander-in-chief, but to Gideon Gono and in due course he became
their reference point. They, through Gono, were suddenly setting prices of
food, determining the distribution of tractors and influencing the running
of the civilian government on a daily basis, including determining the
outcome of democratic elections.
Since the advent of the GPA, Gono
became aware of the torrid time he was going to face, more so when Tendai
Biti became Minister of Finance. His game plan now comes into its own. It's
simply called blackmail. The Governor has, in each and every statement he
has made in his defence, more than suggested that a lot of the people in
power today, from both sides of the aisle, have broken the law during his
watch. He, in effect, has allowed them to break the law. He has meticulously
recorded their crimes and their indebtedness first to his former Jewel Bank
and now to the Reserve Bank and, therefore to himself.
On a number of
occasions he has pleaded "to let bygones be bygones". He knows how to send
the shivers up their collective spine.
This time, he has escalated the
blackmail to Biti personally. All along, we are now told, Honey and
Blanckenberg, Biti's respected law firm, has been breaking the laws of the
country by keeping their clients' money in a foreign account far, far away
from the RBZ officials' nimble fingers. In fact, we are told, the case is
supposed to be in the courts and this, we are told with a flourish, is the
reason why Biti has viciously attacked Our Governor.
Two things are
likely to happen very soon. The police, the prosecution services, the
courts, the AG will suddenly wake up and we should be seeing the case
suddenly being made real and brought before the courts. Biti will be at the
centre of the charges even though this is likely a representational case and
we should hear from selective legal experts justifying the need for Biti to
recuse himself from his office while the case goes on.
Then the
brakes will be applied to the process and Biti will be back in Harvest House
- that is until the next general elections. The second thing that's likely
to happen is that nothing will happen. The Prime Minister will choose to
keep quiet, as indeed he should, and watch the show from the
sidelines.
Why should he do anything to "politically protect" Gono
when the governor already has all the protection he needs from his own
principals.
Oh, how the times are a changing. It's just a few months ago
that we all needed the protection of Gono, from the Europeans, imperialists
of the world, Botswana, the SADC, white farmers, from the thug next door and
the bully at school. Now he wants protection from a mere mortal like Morgan
Tsvangirai!
The world is littered with the mighty fallen, who in
their prime thought the world was theirs to abuse. By the same token, there
are many a former mighty man who had the foresight to know when their time
was up and they gave up in a controlled manner to enjoy their
loot.
Gono has to decide now, his principals' thoughts be damned, whether
he really wants to continue fighting it out. He has to be clever enough to
know that there are no principals out there; just one principal.
And
that principal is on his last leg right now; may be half a leg, for that
matter. He has to decide if the whole country should suffer just because of
that one principal. He has to decide between country and Robert Gabriel
Mugabe. He sure should know it's a question of time before he goes because
go he will.
The vast majority of Zimbabweans wait with bated breath
the day an audit of the Reserve Bank shall be conducted. They want to know
what transpired there.
They want to know who has been looting the
national coffers, whose children are living in luxury abroad, their lives
supported by the tax-payer. They want to know how the Zimbabwe dollar was
printed, the controls and if it's true that there was double printing going
on. Is it true that the Twin-cab trucks of the political top brass regularly
descended into the basement of the RBZ to be loaded with newly printed
banknotes?
If there never was no wrong done, then let the audit so
reveal.
Gideon Gono was never going to go down without a fight. And it's
already getting nasty.
Those that he allowed to benefit are the
loudest in refusing to let him go. To the rest of us Zimbabweans, the answer
would be simple really - get rid of them all.
HARARE, 22 May 2009 (IRIN) -
Zimbabwe is bracing for another year of food insecurity, amid bleak expectations
from both the main maize harvest in April and the coming winter wheat crop.
The hunger season peaked in March, when about 7 million people - more
than half the population - relied on donated food. An assessment of the national
crop by the UN World Food Programme
(WFP) and the UN Food and
Agriculture Organisation (FAO) will be published in the first half of June.
"It [the harvest] is going to be poor, we just don't know how poor,"
WFP's southern Africa spokesman, Richard Lee, told IRIN. Feeding operations have
been wound down, but about 600,000 vulnerable people would still receive
assistance.
The joint assessment will determine food requirements for
the once prosperous country in the coming year. FAO said in its Crop Prospects
and Food Situation newsletter in April that farmers had had to cope with "a long
dry spell", compounding the "shortages and high prices of key inputs such as
fertiliser, seed, fuel, and tillage power [which] will result in another low
cereal harvest this year."
The agriculture ministry has forecast a maize
harvest of 1.2 million metric tonnes, 600,000mt below the national requirement.
The 2008 maize harvest produced about 580,000mt.
"Nothing on the ground
indicates that we are going to get as much [as 1.2mt]. Even the farming unions I
have talked to tell me that we would be lucky to get 800,000mt," Renson Gasela,
former agriculture secretary of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and a
farming specialist, told IRIN.
Winter wheat a crop of the past
The 2000 fast-track land reform programme, which redistributed
more than 4,000 white commercial farms to landless blacks, was a watershed for
Zimbabwean food production. Lee said he did not expect the winter wheat crop to
contribute much to food security, as "the irrigation systems are shot."
"Since the old government [President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF] embarked
on the fast-track land redistribution programme, winter wheat farming has been
deteriorating, and the trend is set to continue this year because the new
farmers are again poorly prepared," Gasela said.
Although white
commercial farmers tended to produce wheat and cash crops like tobacco because
maize, the staple food, was subject to price controls, the collapse of
commercial farming caused the disintegration of agricultural industries that
supported maize production by small-scale farmers.
"For optimal winter
wheat yields, planting should take place from the beginning to the middle of May
every year, but my observation is that most of the farmers have not even started
tilling the land - that means that the farmers who decide to go ahead will
produce hardly anything," Gasela said.
For optimal winter wheat
yields, planting should take place from the beginning to the middle of May every
year, but my observation is that most of the farmers have not even started
tilling the land
The dollarisation of the economy and the
formation of a unity government on 11 February 2009 have filled empty shelves
and brought stock to retail outlets, including wheat seed, but Gasela said most
farmers could not afford it, and fertiliser supplies were both erratic and
prohibitively priced.
A 50kg bag of fertiliser costs US$35 on average,
while 25kg of wheat seed costs US$30. Gasela, who is also a farmer, said about
600kg of Compound D fertiliser, as well as top dressing fertiliser and 100kg of
seed were required to prepare one hectare.
During a recent tour of
Mashonaland Central Province, once a robust farming region, Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai said wheat planting for 2009 had fallen far below
expectations. "This province has the capacity to plant 18,000 hectares of winter
wheat but managed only 150 hectares, just enough for a single farmer."
Agriculture minister Joseph Made has announced the withdrawal of
government support, such as subsidised inputs and free fuel, for winter wheat
farmers. John Robertson, an economics consultant based in the capital, Harare,
told IRIN that many farmers had opted out of winter wheat production.
"There is a lot of uncertainty among farmers because the cost of
producing crops is way above the money they realise after selling their produce
and, in some cases, it has taken more than a year for them to be paid by the
Grain Marketing Board [the government grain parastatal]," he said.
[ENDS]
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United
Nations]
They call her
'The Lady'. Her name is Aung San Suu Ki and she is the leader of the
opposition in Mynmar (Burma). In 1990 the military junta allowed free
elections for the first time in 30 years and Aung San Suu Ki's National
League for Democracy won 392 0f the 489 seats. It made no difference; the
military junta led by Than Shwe refused to step down. The Lady has been
under strict house arrest ever since and although she is known and revered
by the free world, her own supporters at home only saw her again after 4
years when she appeared outside her house in 2007. That was until May 04
this year when a mysterious American named John Yettaw swam across the lake
to her house and, for whatever reason, placed the Lady in violation of the
terms of her house arrest, which prohibits visitors. It was then that the
world got a glimpse of Aung San Suu Ki as she stood trial inside the
notorious prison where she is now being held, pending sentence for breaching
the terms of her house arrest. Reports from foreign diplomats allowed inside
the court to witness the trial, indicate that The Lady was in fine fettle.
Her indomitable spirit shines out and her resistance is undiminished by the
years of incarceration in her own home. Along with an estimated 2000 other
political prisoners, Aung San Suu Ki has come to symbolise the spirit of
resistance to cruel and repressive regimes the world over. Mynmar is many
thousands of miles away from Zimbabwe. The people are a different race,
different culture and different colour but the intensity of their suffering
under a brutal military dictatorship has evoked courageous resistance and
earned the admiration of the world and a Nobel Peace Prize for Aung San Suu
Ki. In Zimbabwe, too, we have seen and continue to see the courage of
ordinary citizens in the face of police brutality. There was a reminder of
that courage- and incorruptible integrity - this last week when the Zimbabwe
Law Society, represented by a group of lawyers once again took to the
streets to protest the arrest of their colleagues on patently concocted
charges. The banners they carried proclaimed the lawyers' unfailing belief
in the rule of law and not as one of them said 'Rule by Law', referring, of
course, to the illegal behaviour of the police who appear to believe that
they are above the law. This week also saw another demonstration by the
tireless Woza women, accompanied by their colleagues in Moza. 1000 of them
took to the Bulawayo streets in protest at the GNU's failure to bring about
meaningful change in their daily lives. The small miracle of both these
protests was that in neither case was a single baton raised or shot fired by
the police at the protesters. The lawyers were allowed to hand in their
petition at the Ministry of Justice, even escorted by a police officer. The
Minister was not there - surprise, surprise! Perhaps he was hiding out in
the loo? So, the petition was pushed under the door for the Minister to find
when he returned to his office. The Woza/Moza women and men were similarly
allowed to disperse in peace after their demonstration. No bandaged, bloody
heads, no arrests on spurious charges - not this time anyway.
Is this
a sign that Zimbabwe is becoming a more tolerant society, that the police
are at last doing what we expect of law enforcement officers? Sadly, those
two examples are not typical of what we see in Zimbabwe as a whole. There
are still too many instances of the police working hand in hand with the law
breakers and failing to protect the innocent victims. Farmers continue to be
brutally assaulted and the shocking attack on an 80-year old farmer's mother
- apparently while she was in police custody - seems to suggest that the
police themselves are not a united force. The truth is that the situation
varies from place to place; it all depends on the political allegiance of
the local police chief. We have never been told how many of the police are
in fact professionally trained officers but are in reality war veterans or
Youth Militia promoted to wear the ZRP uniform and following their own
agenda. The continuing, inexplicable silence of the MDC partners in the GNU
on the issue of the violent farm invasions and the connivance of the police
does not help matters at all. We hear that Robert Mugabe has finally agreed
to swear in Roy Bennett as the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, that may be
another small sign that things are changing for the better but it will be an
uphill task to restore order on the farms after almost 10 years of chaos.
What remains an absolute priority is that the land must be used to grow food
for the near-starving population. Dependence on donors and Food Aid is not
the answer to Zimbabwe's problems.
"Would you like to see President
Mugabe go?" Hilary Clinton was asked in a recent interview. The American
Secretary of State replied, "I think that would be in the best interests of
everyone.and South Africa has a big role to play in this." The MDC's
decision to refer the outstanding issues of the GPA to SADC and the AU,
however comatose those bodies may be, is the only step available to the MDC
in the light of Mugabe's intransigence over the Gono/ Tomana issue. While
these two men remain in office there can be no meaningful reform of the
economy or the justice system and without that Zimbabwe cannot move
forward.
Like the suffering people of Mynmar, Zimbabweans are the victims
of a power-hungry kleptocracy about which the world can do very little. Only
the courage of the brave men and women prepared to demonstrate publicly
their longing for true justice and democracy will keep the hope alive that
true change is on the way.
Yours in the (continuing) struggle PH aka
Pauline Henson author of Going Home and Countdown, political detective
stories set in Zimbabwe and available on Lulu.com
For optimal winter wheat
yields, planting should take place from the beginning to the middle of May every
year, but my observation is that most of the farmers have not even started
tilling the land
